Pesto Spaghetti Squash

If you haven't experimented with spaghetti squash before, you are truly missing out. It's not only delicious and healthy, but fun. Seriously! It's squash, but when baked it comes out in spaghetti-like form. You get long strands that can easily be used in the place of the iconic pasta. Or, you can branch out with new recipes like I do below. In this recipe it's tossed with some homemade pesto and fresh heirloom cherry tomatoes for an amazing piece of a meal.

I made the squash with some homemade fries and macadamia tilapia. While the squash takes a while to make, this was still a relatively simple meal to pull together and I got to relax and get some work done while the squash was baking.

Difficulty: easy
Time: 1 hr 15 min
Cost: $19.08

Nutrition and recipe below the jump!



Pesto Spaghetti Squash
Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti squash (about 4 c prepared squash)
2 tsp parmesan, grated
1 c basil, fresh
2 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 c heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

Get your oven pre-heating to 350 degrees. Pierce the squash all over with a fork. This will keep pressure from building up as it cooks. Put the squash in a glass baking dish coated with cooking spray and bake for 1 hr.

When the squash is finished baking, remove from the oven and let it cool just until you can touch it. Then, cut it in half to let additional steam escape. When you can safely handle it, scoop out the seeds and pulp in the middle and discard. After that, use a fork to scrape up all of the spaghetti-like strands and put them in a bowl.

While the squash is cooking, you'll want to prepare the pesto. Put the basil, olive oil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor. Process until smooth.

Add the pesto and cherry tomatoes to the squash. Toss until evenly coated and enjoy!

Servings: 4
Serving size: about 1 1/4 cup
Nutrition: calories 88; carbs 13g; fat 5g; protein 2g; sodium 50mg; iron 5mg